Herrera seeks re-election
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Vaid seeks to broaden movement
ARTS
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'Dear Harvey'
The
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Serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities since 1971
Vol. 43 • No. 04 • January 24-30, 2013
O’Connor Gay rights get a presidential shout-out settles in at EQCA P by Lisa Keen
by Seth Hemmelgarn
T
he new executive director of Equality California has indicated health care reform would be a main focus of the statewide LGBT lobbying group’s efforts this year. John O’Connor, 41, who joined EQCA in December, has spoken of shifting the nonprofit’s activities, and offered more insight recently when he met with the Bay Area ReCynthia Laird porter. John O’Connor One law that will influence the group’s work is the Affordable Care Act, the national legislation designed to expand health care coverage. “LGBT people, while there is this myth of affluence, have socioeconomic disadvantages and disproportionately suffer from a lack of access to health care,” and the act “is a huge opportunity to bring people into the fold of health coverage,” O’Connor said when he met with the B.A.R. January 10. He said his organization is assembling a campaign to help educate people about the reform. EQCA’s looking for partners among black, Asian and Pacific Islander, and Latino people “so we reach all of the LGBT community,” he said. He added transgender people are another “very vital” component. “The needs of the transgender community is specialized,” O’Connor said. “It is different from other LGBT people we will be reaching out to.” As part of the national reforms, individuals and small businesses will be able to buy affordable health benefit plans through a competitive insurance marketplace. Open enrollment begins October 1, according to http://www.healthcare.gov, a website managed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “We are having an internal planning process right now to figure out what is our capacity and what could it be and how do we ramp up between now and June perhaps,” O’Connor said. That would allow them to reach people at events like LGBT Pride festivals that take place that month.
Legislation
O’Connor hasn’t shared many details on state legislation EQCA plans to support in 2013, but said announcements would be made in the end of January and early February. Over the years, the organization has successfully backed bills that promote everything from housing rights to school safety. O’Connor recently indicated the agency would focus on helping to ensure that state laws are adequately implemented. In an email earlier this month, EQCA spokesman Steve Roth said the group “is particularly interested in ensuring the full implementation of all legislation related to safe schools, which will be achieved in part through the efforts of the Safe Schools AuSee page 9 >>
resident Barack Obama, in his second inaugural address, emphasized the nation’s principle of equality for all and, in doing so, specifically included the struggles of LGBT Americans, a first for a U.S. president in such a speech. “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth,” the president said as he stood on the Capitol’s west side, looking out over a crowd of several hundred thousand. “It is now our generation’s task to carry on what [our nation’s] pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely
With first lady Michelle Obama holding the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s and the Lincoln Bibles, President Barack Obama recited the oath of office during Monday’s inaugural ceremony. Reuters
the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” said Obama. This generation’s task, he said, is to “make these words, these rights, these values – of life, and liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
– real for every American.” LGBT groups issued statements praising the president for including the gay civil rights See page 9 >>
Planners detail Castro Street changes by Matthew S. Bajko
D
etails emerged this week on how pedestrians would gain more breathing room along Castro Street between 19th and Market streets. The sidewalks in the middle of the 400 and 500 blocks on both sides of Castro Street would be widened roughly 10 feet for about 300 feet. Additional trees, lighting, and outdoor seating could be installed in those areas. There would be one lane of traffic for both directions, and left-hand turn lanes would be maintained at 18th Street. More curb space would be added for those waiting to board Muni buses at the Market and 18th Street intersections. Yet there would be enough room for cars to pass the transit vehicles so traffic would not come to a standstill. “We are highlighting the areas where we think the widened sidewalk areas can occur,” said Nick Perry, an urban designer with the Planning Department’s City Design Group. Planners presented their initial design to Castro residents and merchants at a community meeting Wednesday night. In an interview late Tuesday with the Bay Area Reporter to preview the proposal, Perry laid out several elements planners are seeking input on in particular. One idea calls for mini parklets – two each on both blocks of Castro Street but on opposite sides of the street – to be carved out of two parking spaces. The parklet now in front of the Dancing Pig restaurant on the 500 block is slated to be removed. “That will be one thing we are asking the community tomorrow if there is interest in doing mini plazas,” said Perry. Planners would try to make up for the lost parking somewhere else in the neighborhood. Perry pointed to the proposal to replace the gas station at the corner of Market, Castro and 17th streets with a mixed-use residential building as one possibility. Several of the gas station’s existing curb cutouts could be turned into parking spaces. “We are trying really hard not to lose any parking spaces because we know the business
Courtesy SF Planning Dept.
A drawing shows the typical existing and proposed configuration of Castro Street in the middle of the block.
community wants to keep those preserved,” said Perry. As the B.A.R. first reported in December, city officials have designated $4 million for the project. Planners are now trying to determine how to allocate that funding by seeking feedback on what design elements the public most desires. “As one of the busiest streets in the city, Castro Street will be redesigned to accommodate pedestrians and all modes of transportation,” stated Planning Director John Rahaim, a gay man who lives in the Castro, last week in officially announcing the project. Proposed plans shown to the B.A.R. show extra details added to the crosswalks at the three intersections in the project area. Perry said the city is looking at using special paving
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treatments for the crosswalks. “Nothing has been determined yet, and we’ll be asking the community whether it’s an element they’d like prioritized in the budget,” he said. Another change planners are reviewing is redrawing the crosswalk from Jane Warner Plaza across Market Street toward the Pottery Barn building. It could be moved south in front of the plaza boundary flush with the entrance to the Twin Peaks bar. “We would make the crosswalk in line with Castro Street. As it is now, cars turning right onto Market from Castro cannot see pedestrians crossing,” said Perry. “We want to make the intersection smaller and hopefully make pedestrians more visible. We are not sure it See page 7 >>